Sign & Digital Graphics

November '18

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 35 of 72

S I G N & D I G I T A L G R A P H I C S • November 2018 • 31
RUNNING
THE
BUSINESS
More Than Signs
Growing your sign business by establishing a long-term relationship
Scott Franko owns Franko Design Concepts
and Consulting. He formerly owned and
operated a multi-division sign, graphics
and custom fabrication business. You can
locate and contact him online at www.
FrankoDesign.com.
the chance of any competitors sniffing out the fact that there
is a project going on.
This process also provides the platform and means to devel-
opment and enhancement of the business relationship. For us,
we went from being a sign provider to becoming a source for
design and brand solutions, and it opened up the possibilities
and range of projects to work on, thus growing the business.
Today our company still primarily produces signs and printed
graphics, but now also provides many other branding related
products including custom canopies from a division created to
focus on just those items outside of traditional signage.
When put together, the ability to design, print, and fabri-
cate signs and three-dimensional products becomes the formula
for helping customers build their impressions and grow your
business. It did not happen overnight at our business. We had
to be intentional about educating our customers and tailoring
our advertising to showcase our range of services and products.
By providing more than just signs, we grew our business, even
in the face of a challenging economy during the last decade.
Here are some ideas for growing yours that are based on my
experience of building impressions with more than just signs.
From Sign-Guy to Designer
One of my customers not only had me produce signs for
the front of her frozen yogurt business, but she wanted my
design input on how to arrange the space inside the store and
my ideas for decor.
She calls me her designer, not her sign-guy. Of course, many
of my ideas became items that we could produce that included
T
he day a customer called to ask for a "building impres-
sion" instead of just another sign was an important day in
the history of my sign business. This particular new client was
responding to a campaign that we launched called "More than
signs, we are building impressions." The request confirmed
what I believed—that we could provide more than just signs.
For us, this meant that we wanted our customers to hire us
for all their printed and fabricated needs related to branding.
From signs to additional services and products, our goal was
to establish a long-term relationship and become an ongoing
source for visual brand solutions. What we learned was that
many people who buy signs also want to build impressions.
They just need help doing it and need to know where to go to
get that help. That's the opportunity, if you take advantage of
it. But it takes work.
First of all, there's a process to follow. That process requires
a very proactive approach, or at least it did for my company. We
could not sit back and wait for customers to call us for a build-
ing impression. We had to let them know that we did that sort
of work. That takes time. But this sort of proactive approach is
what it takes to get yourself involved and interacting with the
client and their projects. The sooner you get involved, the less
B Y S C O T T F R A N K O
Building Your Impressions